I'm talking a fully enclosed, zippered door and everything. Not just a monkey hut for shade.

I have enough fabric laying around for a stupid amount of tent shaped structures, and apparently pvc is very cheap. I'm aware a good amount of just normal fabrics would let in a lot of dust. I'll be "dust treating" them

I suppose my specific questions would be:

Should I have the frame inside or outside of the fabric? I'm thinking the frame being on the inside would pull the fabric tighter and minimize it from flapping in the wind. Then cut pieces of the pvc to sort of 'snap' over the frame, fabric sandwiched between, to hold the fabric against it even better.

Would a triangular shaped structure hold up better in the wind? Or are there not really any pros involved in a triangle? Because a rectangular structure would be easier to do, I think.

Head space isn't really an issue. Both my boyfriend and I are young and kicking.

C187 wrote:Interesting..What about doing a structural hybrid of a monkey hut and hexi yurt.. (flat hexi walls with a domed top) Or maybe just go for the normal dome?

I don't feel like going through all the trouble to make a dome. I also want a one piece (sewn together) shell of fabric so dust doesn't blow in from a lack of floor.

If I made a triangle or rectangle shape, I'd just have to sew a basic tube of fabric, then set it up on it's frame, then pin fabric on for the end and sew them one at a time and that'd be the end! I think a day's worth of work, as I'm pretty handy with a sewing machine.

I want it to be as stupidly simple and cheap as possible for the size I'm going for.

Turnip wrote:Should I have the frame inside or outside of the fabric? I'm thinking the frame being on the inside would pull the fabric tighter and minimize it from flapping in the wind. Then cut pieces of the pvc to sort of 'snap' over the frame, fabric sandwiched between, to hold the fabric against it even better.

If you do the classic monkey hut design with the tarp, then attach the tent to the frame on the inside you'll get more insulation from the sun. I think the tarp would probably hold up better in the wind as well, unless you're using some really sturdy fabric for the tent.

I'm not an engineer, but I've played with various forms of the Monkey Hut, and what I've observed is that most of the strength and sturdiness comes from the tension of the curved PVC pipes coupled with the tension of the tarp tightly secured to the PVC pipes (and ideally the ground) and holding the entire structure in place. The PVC pipes are basically big tent poles, and tension is key to holding them in place and maximizing their strength as with any tent. It's best to keep the PVC out of direct sunlight, because UV will degrade it and heat will tend to melt it somewhat (all straight PVC pipe I've taken to Burning Man has come back more or less permanently curved to some degree).

TL;DR: IMHO keep PVC pipe curved under tension, secured to strong shade material also under tension, and out of direct sunlight.